Tim Tebow on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Everyone already knew this, but Tim Tebow is now officially a national phenomenon.

The Broncos’ quarterback is on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated. The SI cover photographer must have had to really work for it because the shot is of Tebow turning to hand-off and taking the snap from under center J.D. Walton.

I would love to see Tebow continue to succeed and improve, he brings the old school respect for the game and his fellow players with him, and in a time of lockouts, professional sports needs an example like that.

I hope SI mentions that he:
1. Is still practically a rookie (8 starts; no offesason)
2. Has had his best receiver traded
3. Has his #1 and #2 running backs injured
4. Is getting virtually no suport from his GM
5. Is the most scrutinized and criticized QB in the NFL

We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we don’t have NFL Network. However, we sat around the computer and listened to the game online! It was soooo exciting!

Some people might not like Tebow for whatever reasons (even unspoken reasons). Yet, how can you not hope that this guy succeeds? He can throw (just watch highlights from college), even if he needs to improve his accuracy. And, of course, if Tim can somehow improve marginally (up 10-15% in accuracy from 47.5% to 60%), this guy can be phenomenal!

Besides, it is nice to have some good guys to cheer for.

*BTW, I think that a single full preseason with the various camps and first team offense will help further develop Tebow’s accuracy with the Denver receiver corp AT LEAST 10-15%!

Let’s not go overboard arguing Tebow’s winning despite the universe being against him. One and three are valid, but trading Lloyd made room for emerging star Eric Decker (part of a deep receiving corps), waiving Orton speaks louder than the words of GM and HC, and the over-the-top scrutiny and criticism (and praise!) is due to his own history and public persona. Neither is it unfair for his GM and coach not to unequivocally commit to him as the longterm answer before he gives them reason to with his on-field play. I think they’d LIKE for him to be the longterm answer and they’re HOPING he can develop into a consistent and effective throwing QB, but they’ve been around too long and seen to many can’t-misses flame out to simply ASSUME it. One of the problems I have with overboard Tebow fans is they think he’s already proved himself, that he doesn’t have to show he can be an effective throwing QB at the highest level because they KNOW he will inevitably become so. He entered the league as a developmental prospect because he didn’t come out of college with pro-type skills. LET HIM DEVELOP and stop insisting he’s already there. Stop crying that everybody in his own organization is against him. It’s not true. It would make things much simpler for Elway and Fox if it turns out we’re fixed for the long term at the most difficult and important position a team has to fill. It’s stupid and asinine to keep acting as if the Denver front office would rather lose than win with Tebow.

saying that trading Lloyd was not significant because Decker has emerged is way off. Lloyd had a pro bowl season leading the NFL in yards last year, with a pretty good Gaffney in the 2nd spot. Lloyd made catches on balls that had no business being complete… I understand Orton was more accurate by a mile, but if you take the circus catches away that Lloyd made, and add in the drops for Tebow, the gap isnt as wide as it first appears. Tebow has a ton of development to do, but he has changed the entire mind-set of this team. Anyone who doesnt see that is trying pretty hard to not see it. just like anyone who doesnt see the 25% of Tebow passes fly out to places where no receiver could catch them is trying pretty hard to not see that.

I think Elway might do better by just saying less. Some Tebow-ites see it as such a huge lack of support from the top. Also, each time he scouts a college QB – which seems to be every Saturday… Does Elway ever work with Tebow at all during practices?

Has anyone noticed the hipocrisy of Elway hiring a defensive minded (and three yards and a cloud-of-dust) coach and then crying for more offense?

Caesars Palace moved the Broncos’ odds of winning the Super Bowl from 200-1 to 70-1 in the past two weeks, (while Tebow was in the midst of leading Denver to four wins in five games). He is consistently in the top 10 fantasy QB’s and frequently one of the best top 10 QBR’s each week. He is a top 5 QB in the fourth quarter and has three comeback wins. All of this without a premium receiver, without a consistently healthy RB, without any other premium playmaker on offense in a specialty position – and all the while being criticized and critiqued nationally and by his own management. He has done all of this with class, poise, and remained an inspirational figure.

All the changing odds mean is that more people are betting on the Broncos, which is great, but Vegas odds do not reflect what the real chances of a team winning an event are. What the odds reflect is what bettors THINK is going to happen.

Vegas odds are set by the books so that, as much as possible, half the bettors will bet on one side of the proposition, and half on the other. That’s the way books like it… they hate it and it scares them when almost everyone bets one way, and they will change the odds only to get more people to bet the other side of an unbalanced proposition.

I understand the way it works and that does not change anything. I don’t think most people want to give their money away. It still means as much as it ever did, will, or would (and for any other event or person).

Tebow is a class act. I wish the same could be said for some of his over-the-top fans. Management is NOT against him (don’t confuse understatement and caution with lack of support), the running game with McGahee has been a pleasant surprise, and Tebow has a young and deep receiving corps that is only going to get better and better. (Right now Tebow is holding back the receivers, not vice versa.) And while this has been going on Tim has benefitted greatly from an improved defense. In fact, the defense has gone from allowing 28.0 ppg during the first five games to allowing only 21.4 the last five. Some of that might be due to Tebow’s leadership, but it might also be due to Miller’s rapid development and to Dumervil getting healthy and the envisioned two-man pass-rush wrecking crew becoming a reality. Meanwhile, the offense has not kept pace. It averaged 21.0 ppg the first five games, 20.0 the five games since then. This is not a condemnation of Tebow. He entered the league as a raw, not NFL-ready developmental prospect who would have benefitted from a full off-season as well as sitting one to three years behind an effective starting QB. He’s been thrown into the fire not because his fans foolishly insisted that he’s ready right now, but because Orton’s ineffectiveness, especially in clutch and late-game situations, gave Fox little choice. He’s winning because he plays his best when it matters the most, because the defense has been playing lights out, and maybe because he’s getting the new QB bump (even the much-maligned McDaniels opened with six straight wins). He has to be able to go through his progressions faster, he needs better footwork to be more consistently accurate with his passes, he needs the experience to be able to recognize defenses and play situations on the fly. I’m optimistic that with his intellect, work ethic and will to win he’ll get there. He’s going through his progressions better. Every once in awhile he throws a lovely deep ball. I scrutinize him intensely each game, looking for incremental improvements, because I’m so excited at what he might become. And I groan everytime an over-the-top Tebow fan whines that we’re all against him, that his coaches want him to fail, why aren’t we all anointing him as the team saviour already?

One day, at some point in the future – we will find out if his supporters were accurate or his naysayers were the true voice of reason.

Everything I said in my initial post is factual. If the identity behind those facts (and the circus) were anonymous – people would be impressed.

I think those who support Tebow have been doing so for a long time. Everyone got to their particular place of support differently, but one thing that all Tebow supporters share is the fact they have witnessed greatness and heroism (in many different forms). They have witnessed it not just once, twice, or three times – they witness it almost all the time.

He is special – it will take awhile for others to fully acknowledge that and to be quite honest I understand that fully.

Tebow has been the most scrutinized player ever to come out of college. Certainly you must admit that. Very few QBs come out as a success their rookie year. Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan and, Cam Newton are the exception, not the rule. Peyton Manning was horrible his rookie year, and Elway was never the QB Manning is ( or was as may be the case).
Tebow will improve with more playing time and off season training. I just find it odd that the Bronco front office doesnt respond when a mediocre ex running back ( Merill Hoge) or a less than average ex quarterback ( Steve Berlein) bashes Tebow on sports shows. Even in their prime, Hoge or Berlein probably couldnt make the Bronco roster.

The state of Florida would like to have Tebow return home. The Jacksonville Jags needs Tebow.
We Floridians know Tebow. He is a real football player with a total commitment to the game, his team, the fans and the organiztion. Tebow is genuine. He plays our style of football in the SEC. NO WIMPS NEED APPLY.

How can Denver and Mr. Bowlen continue to suffer from the self centered poor leadership of John Elway. Like many great athletes who prove incapable of coaching/leading because their stardom was based on innate talent (versus developed) Elway seems clueless on how to motivate a player and a team. Instead of going on radio and saying, ‘NO” we are no closer to knowing who our QB is…why not try providing support/encouragement. By the way, WHY does a team president need a radio show….oh, that’s right because he’s the center of attention….he’s more important than the team (in his own mind)). And what Sports Executive in ANY sport cuts a player so that a Division rival in desperate need can add him to preserve their playoff hopes? NONE that I can recall in history….most are smart enough to eat a little more of that salary for a few weeks to ensure the rival is buried before making a move.

And is it just me or is it escaping the ever watchful eyes of the media and the peerless Mr. Elway….how many DROPS are the Bronco’s receivers racking up (those that haven’t been traded away by Elway for nearly nothing)? There were at least 5 during the Jets game and of course a couple of really good catches that might have been incomplete otherwise.

Lastly, how is it that no one is “connecting the dots” between an offense that controls the clock and has very few turnovers (due to fewer interceptions vs pass happy teams) tend to have much better performances on DEFENSE? This is the same unit that was getting RIPPED when Orton was QB because he kept them on the field far too long. Now they get to rest and rotate much more effectively….and get after the opposing QB. Von is clearly coming into his own as the dominant defender we expected.

Go back to Florida you Tebow apologist. You are the same kind of person who kept saying “all Orton does is win” when he first got here too.

If you can’t understand that Denver’s DEFENSE is the reason the Broncos are winning you’re blind.

Case in point: Cam Newton & the Panthers score 35 points on offense against the LIONS, who Tebow struggled mightily against, and lost by 2 TD’s. Tebow scored 10 on offense against the Jets and won. It’s hard to win consistently when you only score 10-17 points per game in the long run.

Again, please go back to Florida. John Elway is one of the greatest QB’s to ever play the game, and he’s doing a hell of a job as GM so far…case in point: VON MILLER.

I am so glad that Newton hauled ass out of Gainesville, what with the cops after him for stealing a students laptop which he threw out the window into a dumpster, also the Florida Student Court was bringing his butt before them on academic cheating charges so instead of being embarrassed he just fled the state and hid out in Texas until things cooled off. Then his Father began the recruiting auction for his services that landing him @Auburn. When they finally uncover the truth I won’t be embarrassed about the low life thug that Newton is/was being associated with my university. He is where he belongs with all of the other overpaid, uneducated gangstas. Tebow is not as efficient as Newton but there are a couple of things going for him, he is respected both inside and outside of football and uh, oh yeah, he has a winning record as an NFL QB. Newton, as always, is making all kinds of “individual” statistics but can’t seem to carry the Panthers to a win.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.